On Wealth and Appearances

Money can buy you lots of things. It  can buy you luxuries, it can buy you friends – of a sort, it can’t of  course buy you love, at least if you are or were a Beatle, but it allows you choices that most of us never even dream of.

One of my favourite stories, possibly apocryphal, but a good one anyway, was that of a senior member of the German gun making dynasty, the Krupps. He was told by his doctor that he had to cut back on his wine consumption, so to drink only a glass each day. He got a glass made that held a litre. That’s what being rich is really about, and how you get and hold on to wealth.

I hate to judge people on appearances, as I cannot claim to have brought empires to their knees by my own beauty, but I do have a strong belief that people should practice what they preach. I believe that people who promote education should be literate, that chefs should be knowledgeable about food, and doctors should not be coughing smoke fumes in your face when you go to see them.

So, this photo of Donatella Versace truly horrifies me. As a designer, she should be setting standards for how women can look, and with the income she has, she must  have the means to look however she likes. But, as the newspaper described her as ‘the lovechild of Katie Price and Janice out of the Muppet show, she is… well, she’s more muppet than anything else.

Am I being too judgmental? Would you spend a fortune on a dress by someone who looks like this?